Monthly Archives: January 2025

January 31, 2025 · 9:00 AM

Even So, Come Lord Jesus!

If you ask me, today’s events in Israel and the Middle East send a loud and clear message that the Lord is coming soon. Jesus may not want us to know the day or the hour of His return, but He did tell us to pay attention to the signs of the times! The Savior said,

Now learn the parable from the fig tree: when its branch has already become tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near; so, you too, when you see all these things, recognize that He is near, right at the door. (Matthew 24:32–33)

My Confidence in the Messiah’s Soon Return

I had a strong sense of the Lord’s soon return when I first became a believer during the Jesus Movement of the 1970s. I was a Bible novice at the time, but it seemed to me that the return of the Jewish people to Israel and Jerusalem’s coming back under Jewish control pointed to the signs of the times found in the Scriptures.

Then I became more “sophisticated,” or at least I thought. I grew more biblically fluent and spent more time examining the complex matters of the end times in the books of Daniel and Revelation and in the Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24–25; Mark 13; and Luke 21). While it was a privilege to study Scripture more closely, I became somewhat cynical about the study of the end times. Maybe I was more aware of the historical prophetic miscalculations of Christians and the overconfidence of date setters in the early 1980s. I believed we should be more cautious about claiming a prophecy was fulfilled when it might not be the case.

After all, I did not want to go out on a limb to suggest that we were seeing prophecy fulfilled right before our eyes. What if I were wrong? I did not want to be a poor testimony for the Savior by misinterpreting His Word. But—thank God—my yearning for the coming of the Lord never waned.

As the years passed, I continued to study these incredible prophetic passages of Scripture and have come back to where I started when I began this journey with Jesus—confidently awaiting His imminent return. I look at today’s events in light of the Bible’s teaching and am more convinced than ever that the Lord is coming soon. And once again, it is a game changer that Israel exists as a modern nation and is under merciless attack by enemies near and far!

As I asked one skeptical friend, “So, how many El Al jets would it take to remove almost seven-and-a-half million Jewish people from the Land of Israel?” I smiled when I asked the question, and he, catching my point, returned the smile. We are not setting dates or declaring prophetic fulfillment in a vacuum. The presence of the Jewish people in the very land God promised to Abraham multiple millennia ago should capture our attention and become a lens through which we see ancient prophecies unfolding before our very eyes. We might be closer than we think!

Recognizing God’s Plan for the Future

I also recognize that parts of the future outlined in the Bible can be quite unsettling and overwhelming. The future holds good news for some and very bad news for others. How harshly this falls on our twenty-first-century ears. Yet, it is true! I have so many family members who are not yet believers, and it is my sincere prayer and highest hope that they might come to know Him before He returns! I am sure you feel the same about your family and friends who do not yet know the Lord.

The future God has for the world is unstoppable! And we cannot sidestep His plans. We are called to discover His agenda and join in His mission of redemption. Humanity is not simply meandering through the ages, as God has a plan and purpose for the conclusion of our present age.

The Importance of the End Times

I know that Bob Dylan is not a prophet, but he eloquently expressed my feelings about the return of the Messiah in his song, “When He Returns”

Like a thief in the night,
he’ll replace wrong with right

When he returns . . .

Will I ever learn that there’ll be no peace,
that the war won’t cease

Until He returns? . . .

Of every earthly plan that be known to man,
He is unconcerned

He’s got plans of his own to set up His throne

When He returns.¹

Did you know that the future was one of the Messiah’s favorite subjects? Jesus never avoided talking about it!

In an article, popular American preacher Chuck Swindoll listed some statistics about Jesus’ return:

One out of every 30 verses in the Bible mentions the subject of Christ’s return or the end of time.

Of the 216 chapters in the New Testament, there are well over 300 references to the return of Christ.

Of the 27 New Testament books, 23 mention Christ’s return.

Christ often spoke specifically about His own return to earth.

Throughout the centuries, Christ’s disciples and followers have adamantly believed, written, and taught that Christ would someday return to earth.²

Swindoll is correct in his assessment: The future is a major concern to the biblical authors and to the Savior, who was the greatest of all the prophets.

Our Role in Light of the Future

We also have starring roles in His forever story! We need to study the Bible to discover what His plans for the future are and to allow them to inform the way we live in the present.

Jesus calls His disciples to live today in light of tomorrow.

We recognize our days are numbered. Life, as we know it, will soon end. We have very little time to let the world know that He is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). I have come to believe that our greatest motivation to go and make disciples (Matthew 28:19–20) is knowing that He is coming back soon—and when we least expect Him.

Notice that Jesus said He would always be with us—even till the end of the age (Matthew 28:20). His second coming was always on His mind, even as He was ascending to the right hand of the Father. Thoughts of His soon return need to fill our thoughts as well and motivate us to faithfully proclaim the gospel until we see Him face to face!

Your Mission to the Jewish People

I wish I had time and space to tell you what Your Mission to the Jewish People is doing to proclaim the gospel among Jewish people today. And we need your help now as we reach Jewish people for Jesus in these last days.

So, what can you do to enable God’s chosen people to hear the gospel and to get ready for His return?

Tell your Jewish friends about the Lord.
Pray for the salvation of Israel.
Generously support our ministries in the United States and in twenty countries around the globe.
Introduce your pastor and local congregation to Chosen People Ministries.
Pray and work toward the peace of Jerusalem and for the welfare of Jewish people so the Jewish community can see that our love for Jesus gives us a love for His kinsmen according to the flesh.

I just returned from a five-day ministry trip to Israel. We have thirty staff members in the Holy Land, and they are reaching out to elderly Holocaust survivors, secular young Israelis, Orthodox Jewish people, and those still displaced from their homes because of the war.

It is so hard to see Israelis suffer hardship (as well as Jewish people globally due to rising antisemitism), but we know the Lord is coming soon, and He uses difficult times to turn our hearts to the only One who can give us hope.

So, please help us reach Jewish people across the globe through your generous support and prayers! We probably have less time to accomplish the task of reaching His chosen people in these last days than we might ordinarily think.

The signs of the times remind us that the Lord is near.

I am especially burdened for Israelis whose lives are so unsettled because of the wars and rumors of wars we see unfolding and intensifying in Israel and throughout the Middle East (Matthew 24:6). The prophetic future detailed in Scripture is upon us, and time is short.

So, your help today in reaching Jewish people in Israel and around the globe is critical.

Looking ahead to a glorious future through the One who died for our sins and rose from the grave, may the Lord fill you with His joy and the hope of His return!

“When He Returns,” Slow Train Coming, lyrics and music by Bob Dylan, accessed December 11, 2024, http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/bobdylan/whenhereturns.html.
↩︎
Chuck Swindoll, “Scriptural Support for Christ’s Return,” Insight for Living, June 15, 2009, https://insight.org/resources/article-library/individual/scriptural-support-for-christ’s-return. ↩︎

Israel and Jewish Evangelism Today

Happy New Year! I hope and pray 2025 will be a fruitful year as you and I serve the Lord.

There is a wonderful story about the relationship between John Wilkinson, a Gentile missionary who founded the Mildmay Mission to the Jews, and J. Hudson Taylor, founder of the China Inland Mission (now OMF International). Every January, Taylor would send Wilkinson a gift with a note attached, “To the Jew first.” Wilkinson would then send the same amount back as a gift to Taylor for his work among the Chinese with a note that read, “And also to the Gentiles.” This true story nicely captures what we will learn in this letter: how we can prioritize reaching Jewish people and still reach the world as commanded by our Messiah prior to His ascension.

There is no doubt that Jewish people need to consciously accept Jesus to obtain salvation and have access to God the Father (John 14:6; Acts 4:12). This saving faith grows out of a Spirit-enlightened understanding of the gospel brought about by embracing Yeshua (Jesus) as the Messiah (John 3:16–17, 16:8).

It is also clear God made promises to the nation of Israel. While these promises do not guarantee the salvation of every Jewish person, they do assure us that the people of Israel will play an important role in the final chapter of the drama of redemption outlined in the Scriptures.

Believing what the Bible tells us about Israel’s guaranteed role in the future should not dampen our enthusiasm to proclaim the gospel among Jewish people today. Our hearts should be inspired to fervently proclaim the gospel to Jewish people, knowing the time is near and that the salvation of the Jewish remnant is linked to the second coming of the Messiah Jesus.

An End-Times Motivation for Jewish Evangelism

Until recent days, a key factor in motivating many Christians to reach Jewish people with the gospel was the belief that the salvation of the Jewish remnant was connected to the coming of the Lord. The wide acceptance of this end-times inspiration for Jewish missions was also broadly understood among churches throughout the world.

Today, Jewish people and Jewish evangelism have somewhat fallen out of favor among Christians as Israel and Jewish people are not as noticeably needy of redemption. Many Western Christians have sided politically with Palestinians, viewing Israel and Jewish people more negatively, and have directed their “mission impulse” toward social justice issues and evangelizing Arabs, particularly Muslims. I applaud proclaiming the gospel among all people groups. However, many Christians passionate about evangelizing Muslims have embraced a one-sided view of Israel that conflicts with the facts of what is happening in the Middle East and with the Bible itself.

This shift in sympathies is now commonplace in the United Kingdom, northern and central Europe, and it is rising in North America, too. Those who do not take the biblical prophecies about the land of Israel in a literal sense are fueling these shifting sympathies, leading to a declining interest in Jewish evangelism.

This is why understanding the end-times rationale for Jewish missions and the role of Jewish people in the plan of God is critical. It is my hope that Gentile Christians will be moved by the Scriptures to bring the good news to God’s chosen people.

“To the Jew First” (Romans 1:16)

There are several critical passages which should undergird an end-times motivation for Jewish missions. One of the most important is Romans 1:16: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”

Those engaged in Jewish evangelism are familiar with this passage and understand its importance in motivating the church toward Jewish evangelism. This brief verse has been interpreted in a number of different ways, but more often than not, it is used to emphasize the importance of Gentile Christians reaching Jewish people with the gospel.

I would suggest that one of the reasons the apostle Paul believed the gospel should go to Jewish people first was because of his understanding of the events of the last days. When Romans 1:16 is viewed in this way, the urgency of Jewish evangelism becomes evident. One cannot fully understand Romans 1:16 without understanding Paul’s conclusion in Romans 11, where he speaks about the end-times repentance of the remnant of Israel and their reception of Jesus as Savior. If we look closely, the priority described in Romans 1:16 is founded on Romans 11:25–27 (and more fully on 11:11–29) and must be viewed in light of the role Jewish people play in the second coming of Christ.

Paul is not suggesting that the Roman believers withhold the gospel from the Gentiles until every Jewish person in the world is reached. Neither is the apostle implying that the gospel has already come to Jewish people first and that this priority no longer applies to the mission of the church today. Romans 1:16 was written in the present tense. Therefore, if the gospel is still “the power of God for salvation” and is still for “everyone who believes,” then the gospel is still “to the Jew first.”

Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, focused his ministry on reaching non-Jewish people with the gospel message. Yet, this did not lessen his concern for the salvation of Jewish people. Wherever Paul went in his ministry among the Gentiles, he also preached the gospel to Jewish people living in that area (Acts 13:13–52, 14:1–5, 18:7–11, 19:8–10). He would make sure this was his first evangelistic effort in a particular city before he spoke to the Gentiles. The salvation of Jewish people was an ever-present concern for Paul, and his actions described in the book of Acts reveal his understanding of what he penned in Romans 1:16.

The apostle’s argument may be summarized (and connected with Jesus’ words in Matthew 23:39) as follows: When Jewish people are successfully evangelized, then Jesus the Messiah will return. There was an end-times urgency in the tone of Paul’s preaching and in his letter to the Roman believers, encouraging them to prioritize outreach to Jewish people. His theology was enacted in his own strategy for mission. And this is why we should follow suit. In effect, Paul argued that if the church desired to witness the second coming of Christ, Jewish people must be evangelized.

The church cannot neglect Jewish evangelism: Jewish evangelism should not become the great omission of the Great Commission, and the church must make Jewish evangelism a priority because of Romans 1:16.

“All Israel Will Be Saved” (Romans 11)

Paul connected the priority of reaching Jewish people with the end times, and he argued that God has not cast off His people Israel despite their national rejection of Jesus the Messiah (Romans 11). His concluding statement proving God is not finished with Israel is that “all Israel will be saved” (Rom 11:25–27). Furthermore, he wrote:

Now if their transgression is riches for the world and their failure is riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their fulfillment be! For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? (Rom 11:12, 15).

God has not rejected Jewish people (Rom 11:1) but rather has preserved a remnant within the nation (Rom 11:5) until the remnant becomes the nation. In this passage, the apostle tells us that in the end, God will save “all Israel,” which I believe refers to the entirety of the nation of Israel alive at that time.

This monumental end-times event takes place after the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. It is evident from this passage that prior to the salvation of national Israel and the end of days there is a time when God will be at work among the Gentiles in a special way—grafting numerous “wild branches” into the olive tree as described in Romans 11:16–24.

In summary, Jewish people will return to the God of our fathers by accepting the Messiah. The nations will then witness the return of the Lord Jesus. God has not rejected His people because He is always faithful to His promises (Rom 11:29).

Reaching Jewish people with the gospel must become a priority for all Christians as, ultimately, the salvation of Jewish people ushers in Jesus’ second coming and releases the fullness of God’s blessings to the whole world.

Outreach to Jewish people begins with you! Through your prayers, giving, and witnessing to your Jewish friends, the plan of God will go forth in power! We cannot allow Jewish evangelism to become the great omission of the Great Commission.

The Enduring Call of Romans 1:16

I am writing this brief letter to you right before I visit Israel this month. This is going to be a very significant trip, and I hope you will pray for me.

I cannot easily describe the level of suffering and anguish the last sixteen months have brought upon Israelis, Palestinians, Chosen People Ministries—Israel staff, and for Jewish people globally because of the wave of antisemitism that has erupted since the beginning of this horrible war.

Life in Israel During Wartime

As I write, quite a few of our staff are still moving in and out of bomb shelters on an almost daily basis. The missile sirens seem to be going off day and night, even though the Israel Defense Forces have destroyed so many of the missile launchers in Gaza and southern Lebanon. There are usually between twenty and one hundred (sometimes even more!) explosives fired every day. A number of civilians, both Arab and Jewish, are killed within Israel because the missile defense systems cannot shoot down every projectile or drone.

Israeli soldiers—most of them in their early twenties—are also dying daily both in Gaza and Lebanon . . . more than 800 so far! May I also remind you that there are still more than one hundred hostages held by Hamas in Gaza? As of November, Israeli intelligence has assessed that half the hostages are still alive. Mothers and fathers, husband and wives, and children continue to be distraught and spend hours shedding tears of grief because of the extreme adversity their loved ones continue to endure in the dark underground tunnels of Gaza.

Pray for My Trip to Israel

I will admit that it is a bit dangerous for me and for the two other godly men joining me on this trip to Israel, yet we really do not spend our time thinking about it. Our beloved staff endure this stress day in and day out, and all I want to do is support them. I do hope that you will pray for fruitfulness and safety for our little team as well as for our staff.

We hope to meet and pray with our staff members individually and with their families. We love them so much, and I am personally inspired by and grateful for their bravery during this difficult time. They not only care for their own family, but they are out and about each day meeting the needs of suffering and displaced Israelis. If you have given a gift already to our work in Israel, I want to assure you that it is being used well, as our staff continue their ministry amid ongoing danger.

I will also be reviewing the progress of our new Tel Aviv Messianic Center. I am so grateful for the huge outpouring of support for this new and much-needed center. We are now able to celebrate the completion of our two-year, $6.5 million campaign, which means we now own this beautiful new center in the heart of the Holy Land—debt-free. Thank you so much!

The construction has continued miraculously and should be completed by mid-February. Even our elevator, needed to ensure everyone can participate in our ministry activities, has come six weeks earlier than thought after being fabricated in Germany. All I can say is hallelujah!

The Enduring Call of Romans 1:16

Throughout the month of January, we emphasize the theme of Romans 1:16, where the apostle Paul wrote, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (emphasis added). This text is foundational to our ministry of 131 years. We are still unashamed; the gospel is still God’s power for salvation, and the message is still for everyone who believes—“to the Jew first” and also to the Gentiles!

We are praying for an outpouring of prayer and financial support during this month as we begin the year with a deep concern for the well-being of Jewish people. I cannot tell you how much your prayers, encouragement, and generous support mean to us.

The psalmist wrote, “pray for the peace of Jerusalem: may they prosper who love you” (Psalm 122:6). It is love which is at the heart of our generosity, and this new center was built with the love of faithful Jesus-followers for Jewish people.

The time of salvation is NOW, and your support and prayers are needed NOW . . . and the need to bring the gospel to Israelis and Jewish people around the globe is NOW.

May I also ask whether your local church has invited a Chosen People Ministries speaker? If not, please talk to your pastor and let them know that we are available. You can call our Church Ministries department at (561)-737-1431 or email us at churches@chosenpeople.com. We would be honored to send someone to speak at your church. Your pastor might especially consider a “Messiah in the Passover” presentation during the Easter season.

My wife Zhava and I pray you will know the power of His resurrection and the joy of His presence in the new year.